I decided to rebuild a copy of Windows 3.11 with all of the latest mod cons etc. In essence, while we are trying to keep with the original windows, most of the thing is getting a modern makeover. The Windows 3.11 resource kit (reskit31.exe) gives extensive details on this, so we're really following what MS has documented. Still, doing this gives a ready-made custom Windows with patches installed.
This is not the first time this experiment has been conducted. A custom build of windows has been used as the main OS since about 1994 to 1998 (when win31 dominated the desktop). So this is not merely some theoretical exercise, but a day-to-day OS.
The base versions of Windows are abbreviated thus:
The further idea is to see if we can support something like standard mode in Windows 3.11.
For as much as possible, the process is not merely to produce a 3.31 distro, but to see if much of the original can be reproduced, including compression, etc. Eventually, we will get around to recompiling help files, to add in extra information. One subject to be added is help on the Progman DDE interface.
Initial tests with W310, W311 and W331 suggest that W331 requires the least modifications, and this version is fairly accessable to many users. You should be able to access MS-DOS 6.22 and Windows 3.10 as well, because we will borrow from both of these. None the same, these are more cosmetic changes, rather than real things.
This is not the first time this experiment has been conducted. A custom build of windows has been used as the main OS since about 1994 to 1998 (when win31 dominated the desktop). So this is not merely some theoretical exercise, but a day-to-day OS.
The base versions of Windows are abbreviated thus:
- W300 : Windows 3.00
- W310: Windows 3.10
- W330: Windows 3.10 for Workgroups
- W311: Windows 3.11
- W331: Windows 3.11 for workgroups
The further idea is to see if we can support something like standard mode in Windows 3.11.
For as much as possible, the process is not merely to produce a 3.31 distro, but to see if much of the original can be reproduced, including compression, etc. Eventually, we will get around to recompiling help files, to add in extra information. One subject to be added is help on the Progman DDE interface.
Initial tests with W310, W311 and W331 suggest that W331 requires the least modifications, and this version is fairly accessable to many users. You should be able to access MS-DOS 6.22 and Windows 3.10 as well, because we will borrow from both of these. None the same, these are more cosmetic changes, rather than real things.